Tadepalli Municipality seems to be ahead of its big brother the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation in using technology to make the bathing ghats safe for people who are taking a holy dip in them.
Tadepalli village on the right bank of Krishna River has several ashrams and temples and is a favoured destination for those taking the holy dip in the Krishna on almost all auspicious days even though it is downstream the Prakasam Barrage.
In the changed scenario, the quality of water that flows along the right bank of the river downstream the Prakasam Barrage is always an issue. Even for this pushkaram, water that has collected downstream the barrage is being pumped into the trench that was excavated along the right bank of the river. Tridandi China Jeeyar Swamy and all his devotees, including MPs Gokaraju Gangaraju and Galla Jayadev, took a holy dip in the Seethanagaram bathing ghat on the first day of the pushkaram.
Pat for municipality
For the pushkaram, the Tadepalli Municipality has shown a great deal of foresight by hiring a firm to sanitise the water using the ‘chlorine dosing system’ that is normally used for drinking water and industries.
The “Online Chlorine Dosing System” periodically releases liquid bleach (Sodium hypochlorite) from time to time. The amount of liquid bleach released is calculated taking into consideration the volume of water, the operator said. The chlorine levels are checked every two hours for fine tuning, he said.
The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is on the other hand using a crude method of “edge chlorination”. Used cement bags containing mixture of sand and bleaching power are being suspended in the water from the chick wire fencing erected at the outer edge of the bathing ghat in this crude method. There is always a danger of people getting chlorine burn or allergy if they take a dip too close to the bleaching bags and of not enjoying the sanitation benefits if they were too far away, experts said.
